Jayant Yadav aiming for a comeback to cricket post freakish injury

Jayant Yadav has a Test ton to his name.

After making his Test debut for India back in 2016 during India's long domestic season where India played 13 matches at home, Jayant Yadav has lost somewhere in the crowd.

A freakish injury in the form of a stress fracture then hit his career sidelining him from the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy and leaving him "disheartened". Following the injury, Jayant spent one-and-a-half months at home, allowing the bone to heal, before finding support from physio Ashish Kaushik and former India legspinner Narendra Hirwani at National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

The stress fracture of the finger maybe happened because of the way I grip the ball," Jayant told ESPNcricinfo. "It just happened to me, it's a very rare injury. During that phase, you go through a lot of things and think 'why only me and stuff like that?' Injuries are a part and parcel of cricket. But until and unless it happens to you, you don't empathize with the fact about what it takes to overcome it. Not being able to play because of some injury is very, very disheartening. Especially, in my case since it was weird and freak injury."

"I spent three months at the NCA here and we did icing and flexion to get fit. Rehabs are sometimes boring, but I was lucky to have the NCA physio Ashish Kaushik with me and it was undocumented injury as far as I know. Hiru bhai was also here only when I started my bowling. We did not speak about skills as such and it was just about that mental strength to bounce back. Because your skill will always be there with you".

Jayant, however, conceded that he wasn't positive enough to tackle the injury and felt he could have done a lot better, mentally. "During that time, you think about how you could have done things differently, but at the end of the day, it has happened to you. In hindsight, I could have done better in terms of my mental preparation during my injury," he said. "It has happened to you and you have to be just positive. It's easier said than done. I myself wasn't positive. If I have another injury, touchwood! I don't have it, I have some experience to bank on."

So when asked about if he has changed the action, Jayant said "I have and I haven't as well," he said. "It's a difficult question to answer. Holding the ball is a feeling and I have been doing it for years and years. So, it's difficult to describe how I've changed it. For example, it's the feel of a particular pillow you sleep on. It used to play on my mind but now I have freed myself up and moved on."

"The fun is not fully back, you have that feel-good factor only when you contribute to a winning cause," he said." I haven't done that since my return from injury. When I do that consistently, the fun will be back" concluded Jayant as he keeps his search for "fun" on.